Author: Morris Vargas

Culture is what makes the identity of a community or a certain place. Pair that with good natural surroundings and scenery, then that place can easily be among the most sought-after areas especially among tourists. Remember that one of the reasons why tourists usually travel is to unwind and feel at one with nature. This is most especially among those people who are living in the concrete jungle in the city. They also want to experience new things which include different cultures to understand them better. They want to take part in something that is foreign to them for an experience. As such, causing destruction on both culture and the natural surroundings, whether intentional or unintentional is something unacceptable. In fact, it is a silent understanding that it is the responsibility of the people, especially the citizens in that area, to protect the culture and the natural environment they have against destruction. In that way, they can have them preserved for the generations to come. Here at Mississippi Stand, we do just that. We protect what is ours so that there can still be more people to benefit from them in the future. We make our voices heard and we hope to make a change that will not just impact the community but the whole country for the better. With this respect, we seek the help of others. What is the advocacy for? Mississippi Stand advocates stopping the construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline. This is also known as the Bakken Pipeline which is over a thousand-mile-long underground oil pipeline you can find in the United States. It is being used to deliver several hundred thousand barrels of oils across the States that it covers. This is a multi-billion dollar project that is planned and implemented by a group of companies. From that amount alone, you can tell already that there should be a portion that is allocated to the preservation of the natural resources that can be found in the area. However, this seemed to have been overlooked. Instead, the continuous construction and implementation of the project just caused more destruction. The site that is sacred to American Indians is affected. What they have as a legacy is being destroyed by the continuous building of the said pipeline. Even the water system has been affected. Since we are talking about the creation of passageway of oil, we are not talking about dust and other dirt polluting the water we use as a drinking system. Instead, we are looking into more troublesome pollutants that may be detrimental to the well-being of the people and can even cause death. This is above all, what we are hoping to prevent This is the reason why we have been constantly calling for action. We want this problem to be addressed. Granted, it created jobs for those unemployed individuals but at what cost? We should go back and analyze the real danger of having the Dakota Access Pipeline constructed.